Japan Court Says TikTok AI Voice Clones May Violate Rights

A Tokyo court has ruled that a person’s voice can be protected under Japan’s publicity rights law, marking the country’s first court decision to recognize legal safeguards against the commercial use of AI voice clones. The Tokyo District Court issued the ruling Wednesday in a case brought by Kenjiro Tsuda, the Japanese voice actor known for playing Kento Nanami in Jujutsu Kaisen. Tsuda accused an anonymous TikTok account of using an AI-generated imitation of his deep voice without permission to narrate videos about urban legends and paranormal stories. Presiding Judge Aya Takahashi ruled that a human voice can represent a person’s identity in much the same way as a portrait. “The human voice is symbolic of individual personality, just like one’s portrait,” Takahashi said in the decision. The court said the unauthorized use of a performer’s voice may violate publicity rights when it is done to exploit that voice’s commercial appeal. That finding gives Japanese performers a new legal argument as AI tools make it easier to copy voices, faces and other parts of a person’s identity. Tsuda said the TikTok account, called Nanami, used a voice resembling his in more than 180 videos. The ac...